We're going on a trip!

YIPPEEE!! We won! We won!! What? You ask what we won? IES collected cell phones and used electronic equipment in competition for a trip to the Atlanta Zoo! Yep, our entire school has won a field trip to the zoo! Sooo exciting, and just a little hectic to fit it in within the next 17 days! ;)  The trip will be broken into two days. the K-3 Field Day is one day followed by the 4-5 Field Day the next. So, the day that our fourth and fifth graders have their Field Day, we'll be at the zoo. They go to the zoo the day we have Field Day. We are so very excited!

†~Melly~†

Word Wall Linky Party

     Jen over at The Teacher's Cauldron is having a Word Wall Linky. I have a "Chunk Word Wall" where we post words with a "chunk" underlined so the children can refer to it when writing.
  
     My students have Poetry Notebook to help build fluency and comprehension. In each poem, we focus on three to five "chunks" or sounds that are commonly spelled.

     An example: the first poem we used one year was "I Have a Little Turtle" which goes "I had a little turtle, he lived in a box, he swam in the puddle, he climbed on the rocks. He snapped at a mosquito, he snapped at a flea. He snapped at a fly, and he snapped at me. He caught the mosquito, he caught the flea. He caught the fly, but he didn't catch me!" We "choose" five word chunks from this poem to focus on for the first week and two days of school because we usually start on a Thursday (go figure!). One chunk is -ap from snapped. We discuss the double consonant and why we need it when adding the suffix -ed. We make words with ap during stations. Another chunk we add to our chunk word wall is -le from little. We find words that have -le at the end that say /l/ like little and puddle. We use -ock from rock, -y from fly, and -aught from caught. We talk about -aught sounding like it should have a short o. This is just a good time to discuss our Southern drawl and remind students that caught really doesn't sound like cawt. ;)


     Using this activity at the beginning of the year is a way I review short and long vowel sounds. I have a, e, i, o, u, y, and other as labels on my chunk wall. We talk about y saying long i at the end of a one-syllable word and long e at the end of a two syllable word most of the time. We look for patterns in our speech, reading, and writing using the chunk wall. I told my students that ey at the end of a word says long e, and I couldn't think of any other ways to use y. One of my students came to me a few days later with gym, where y says short i. :) I was thrilled that she noticed. Now, I do the same every year at first to see how many words they can bring with different sounds. I challenge them to find ways to use chunks that I have forgotten. ;)

     I don't have a picture because we took everything down for testing, but my "Chunk Wall" is a basic, yellow 5 ft. (I think) pocket chart with the letters spread out in two rows. We add words in columns and usually don't fill the pocket chart completely. After the first few weeks of school, fewer words are added because we have examples of lots of chunks there. Our Poetry Folder gets fatter with fewer "chunks" that we haven't already added. Occasionally someone will bring a word they've found, we'll discuss it as a class as to whether we need to add it, and we do or don't-according to vote (with a little encouragement whichever way from me).

     I'd also read in Janiel Wagstaff's book Phonics That Work! New Strategies for the Reading and Writing Classroom about a word wall that you add 1,000 frequently used words to a few at a time until it is full. Students are held accountable for the words that have been added because this word wall stays in one place, has the same words all year (as they are added, students work with the words and are then accountable for them). 

     If you haven't read that book and teach second grade, you'll love it! :) I got it in 1994 when it was published.


†~Melly~†

Another Silly Sentence

    Most of my students remember that the answer to an addition problem is a sum. Most of them even remember that the answer to a subtraction problem is the difference. Not all of them remember that the answer to a multiplication problem is the product. They certainly don't remember that the answer to a division problem is the quotient because we just started multiplication (and in so doing, have begun division when writing the "fact family").

So today I typed the four answer vocabulary words with simple phrases for our Math journals. Then underneath I wrote S + D - P x Q / (couldn't type the division sign with a hypen and two dots), made a silly sentence, and highlighted the letters and corresponding words to reinforce my silliness. I am not sure if this will help all my students remember, but some of them seemed to get it.

I had written Sam + Duke - play times = quirky dogs, but my teamie said, "Why not quacking ducks? If my bunch doesn't get recess, they sure do "quack" about it!" I loved it, her students will remember that, and I changed it for my students, explaining to them about my teamie's "quacking ducks."  

Get my vocabulary page here... nothing fancy, just something to put up for the students to copy into their journals. Comments, please! Does this even make sense? ;)

†~Melly~†

PS: I found this and like how it seperates the concepts into smaller bites Now my students have two choices...

 A Skunk Smells Daily. (Add-Sum, Subtract-Difference)

My Penguin Doesn't Quack. (Multiply-Product, Divide-
Quotient)

How to Remember Gallon, Quart, Pint, Cup

This post is random, but may help someone...

I was just roaming around Wednesday afternoon, when I walked into a class on my hall where the teacher was tutoring fifth graders in preparation for the CRCT. One of the girls was having a problem remembering liquid measurements. I'm sure you've all seen the large, capital G with four Qs inside, two Ps inside the Qs, and 2 Cs inside the Ps to help students remember the equivalent measures. If you haven't seen it, e-mail me and I'll send you a copy when I finish one.

The student who was having trouble remembering this information had not been shown that, so I showed her and had her do each letter/letter set in a different color marker so it would stand out to her and help her remember the sequence for the test.

She still seemed a little hesitant, so I thought..."Well, acronyms work. Why not try a silly sentence!" Here it is... "Go quietly, pretty cat!" Her teacher said that worked wonderfully for her because she actually has a cat and talks/writes about it frequently.

Doesn't God work in mysterious ways!? :D She got it with the silly sentence. I thought maybe this would help someone else, so I'm sharing. Happy Sunday!

✿.｡.☆♪♫*❤*Melly*❤*☆.｡.✿

stapelrsstrategies@gmail.com

Happy Easter! I woke up this morning to find out that I've been tagged by Miss Nelson at Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera! How fun!

 

  Here are her 10 questions with my answers in pink and the rules to the game:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the 10 questions for the tagger who posted for you.
3. Create 10 questions of your own to ask the people you're tagging.
4. Tag 10 people and link the with your post. Don't forget to let them know they've been tagged!

 

 

1.       Which do you prefer teaching Reading or Math? Math...I am an avid reader, but it puts me to sleep listening to someone else read...even my students. :*(

2.       What’s your favorite place for clip art? I love clip art on my newsletter and recording sheets that I make for games.

3.       Do you count spelling tests as a reading or writing grade? Reading.

4.       Favorite website for your students? I love SumDog! Coolmath.com is good, too.

5.       Point and shoot camera  or DSLR? DSLR with point and shoot option for those times...

6.       Do you arrive to school early or stay late? I do both. Mostly, though, I love to arrive early. I get my lamps on, everything set, and then I just spend time meditating on the day...asking the Lord's blessing. :)

7.       Coke or  Pepsi? Cherry Coke! ;)

8.       Michael’s or Hobby Lobby? Hobby Lobby because it's here.

9.     What is your favorite read aloud? A better question would be what do I not like to read aloud. I love Kevin Henkes for the beginning of the year. I love Henry & Mudge books. There are so many books I enjoy sharing...right now, I'm reading the series that begins with Among the Hidden to my students. They love, love, love them!

10.   Winter Break or Spring Break? I love them both! Winter Break for Christmas to celebrate Jesus's birth. Spring Break to celebrate His Resurrection and our salvation! :)

My ten questions:

1. How many grades have you taught during your career?
2. Are you where you'd like to stay until retirement?
3. What do you think about the new Common Core Curriculum?
4. How many students do you have in your class this year?
5. Has the number of students grown in the past couple of years?
6. What is your favorite lesson/subject to teach?
7. What is your favorite classroom management strategy?
8. How many teachers at your grade level in your school?
9. How many students in the school where you teach?
10. Do you teach in a public or private school?

I'm tagging...

http://missnelsonsgotthecamera.blogspot.com/

http://downunderteacher.blogspot.com/

http://apiratelifeforme1.blogspot.com/

http://thinkwonderteach.blogspot.com/
(I never found where I've been tagged...help! ;)

http://traditionslaughterandhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/

http://williams2ndgradepigpen.blogspot.com/

http://teach123-school.blogspot.com/

http://luckeyfrogslilypad.blogspot.com/

http://adventuresn2grade.blogspot.com/

http://theteacherscauldron.blogspot.com/

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

†~Melly~†

Birthday Cheer, Retirement Cheer

Has anyone seen the Birthday Cheer on Pinterest?

Check it out here. 

I typed it four to a page so I could hand out copies for my dad's birthday Monday. ;) If you'd like a copy, click here. 

     Well, one of our teachers is considering retiring this year. She has 28 years and just hasn't quite decided for sure. It hit me the other day when I saw the Birthday Cheer again that we haven't even thought about what to do if she does retire. The way our school handles retirement is to let the retiring teacher's team do something to begin the party like get up and talk about the teacher, do a skit, or something...we get to decide what. I had a revelation! God just gives me these ideas, ya know?

Yep, you already guessed, didn't you? I wrote a Retirement Cheer to begin the party for her...if she decides she's really going to retire. At least I'm trying to be "on it" for the end of the school year. My buddy and I have talked about having everything done early (even if it means a couple of Saturdays working) so that by the end of the last week of school, we'll be done with our chores.

That means I have a list going...it's going to be a busy time for the next seven weeks. Seven weeks! Can you believe that we'll be out of school in seven weeks? The children get out on Wednesday and we have two days postplanning. So, please pray for me that by the end of the day May 25, 2012, I'll be walking out of my classroom for the summer. I do intend to work on lessons and units for CCGPS this summer and be ahead, but I can do that right here at home. :)

     I have many plans for this summer and I'm going to handle them the way I did the summer after we first moved into our house (2000). List everything, prioritize, and get up by 7:00 (or earlier) each morning to complete at least 7 items on my list. I love getting up early in the summer, listening to the Purple Martins chirping and our chickens clucking while drinking a cup of coffee on the back deck (before it gets too hot to enjoy coffee). My habit each morning will be devotional time, followed by exercise! When I finish the seven chores on my list, I'll start the fun stuff...sunbathing for a while, then working on my units and plans for 2012-2013. Ah...the plans I have. :) Spring Break has been a taste of the relaxing days of summer. I can't wait! 

    That doesn't mean I won't enjoy these next 7 weeks, because I will. The last month or so of school is always bittersweet to me. These children have grown so much since the beginning of the year! They are not only taller and heavier, but smarter and even have more personality. Well, most of them. I think my Joshua's personality was already established. He's a hoot! Smart as a whip and just busy!

We'll talk about all we've done this year, finish up projects, hatch baby chicks, grow plants in shoeboxes (check out that idea here), and write all about everything we've done for our Second Grade books. I'm so excited...ready to finish out the 2011-2012 school year with a bang for my children so they'll have fond memories of second grade. It's funny! I've had several groups of students from my second and third graders in previous years come back to ask me if we could have a class reunion. I think that is an excellent idea. I wish they'd invite me to their class reunions after they graduate. :) I'd love to see them all and hear about their lives.

OOPS! Did I let my age show? ;)

†~Melly~†

PS: If you have someone retiring and you'd like to see my attempt at a Retirement Cheer to begin your own, just comment or drop me an e-mail at staplersstrategies@gmail.com and I'll inbox you a copy. I don't want to give away the surprise here. I don't think my buddy follows my blog, but just in case... ;)

Currently April

Currently...

I love the sound of the Purple Martins on Spring days, especially first thing in the morning. We have 96 Martin gourds and a Martin hotel that will accommodate 24 couples, so we have room for 120 pairs of Purple Martins. Last year we had approximately 650-700 Martins here in late July for about a week or ten days, roosting on the crossbars of the gourd supports. It was an amazing sight to watch them all come to roost in the evenings. About a month ago, my darling hubby added the Martin hotel to the top of the Martin gourd pole farthest away from our front porch.

It's soothing to hear them out building their nests, chirping away. :)

My darling hubby became an unemployed welder in March 2009 and now works 10-12 hours weekly @ Publix. He prefers to do things around our home and take care of his mom and my parents. I love it that he can and does! We have chickens and raise eggs for our own consumption and for hatching each Spring with my students. I am trying to get him to add various chickens to raise and sell. I'd also like to sell produce. My dad has quite the garden each year, and I think hubby and I should pitch in, increase the size of the garden, and make it a family venture.

I love doing Candy Bar awards each year for my students. I am working on finding just the right award for each student. It's easy with some students, harder with others...takes lots of thought for me.

A teacher in my building has inspired me! I want Insanity because I am going to take care of business before I turn 50 in April 2013. I have been fighting off allergies since elementary school, so I want the Health Master because I believe fresh veggies and fruits will solve some of this problem. I have many toxins to rid myself in order to be healthy! :)

I feel the need to praise the Lord in all things, especially lately. Of course we need to pray without ceasing, but we must remember, too, that He inhabits the praises of His people...of which I am one! I hope you are one of His, too!

For the Super Power, the diarrhea button cracked me up! It would definitely be a way to change people's attitudes! I'd like my Super Power to be a LOVE button. The philos kind of love...brotherly love. I'd like to be able to push a button that would allow people to see into others' hearts and realize the struggles they are going through so they could empathize and sympathize with them. I need that LOVE button most of all! Impatience, be gone!! ;)

†~Melly~†

Library Bunnies

My teamie suggested I share my Library Bunnies. She's had Library Frogs for 3 years now. I have Library Bunnies because I found a sale a few years back at K-mart. They had these cute little bunnies in pastels-yellow, green, pink, and blue-left over from Easter on clearance for a nickel each. I bought every bunny they had!

Background info...I knew a Kindergarten teacher who had two little bears..a girl bear and a boy bear. Whenever a child needed to go to the restroom, s/he would just put the bear on his/her desk and be off. No need to disrupt Guided Reading, Math, or Writing. I have two little dogs for restroom.

I had all these bunnies so I pulled out five and told my students that they should place a bunny on their desks when they go to the library so they wouldn't disrupt my small group lessons.

We have specific rules about the library which we discuss. They can check out 2 books, and one must be an AR book on which they test after reading it three times. If they do not pass the test, my friends know they must complete a graphic organizer and retest before returning the book.

Students know they are to control their behavior in the hallway on the way to the library as well as in the library.

They are to take care of their library business as quickly as possible so that others have a turn in the library.

We begin with the leader of the day and travel down the alphabetical list of our students in order to give everyone the opportunity to be first. Students place the bunny on the next person's desk upon returning to class or return it to the shelf. This must be done quietly! Friends who do not need to go to the library just pass the bunny. This way I can focus on small group lessons.  

Sometimes we have a "meeting of the minds" when my friends choose not to follow the rules. It usually takes one student receiving suffering the consequences to encourage the others to do the right thing. :)

Click here Library/Reading Procedures for a copy.

†~Melly~†

PS: I use plumbing elbows from Home Depot which cost around $3.00 each for Whisper phones. :D

:) I Love Second Grade! (:

I have several sweeties who like to draw pictures for me when they should be working finish their work. Today I took a sick day to drive my dad to Emory for his annual aneurysm repair check. My mom hates the drive and is very nervous after an almost fatal car accident in October 2001. So...to keep her calm I brought cards my students had made for her, thanking her for crocheting tobbogans for them. She crocheted a tobbogan for each of my students (and my teamie's) this year as well as the two previous ones. I also had a few of these notes & drawings from my students for her to see and wanted to share them with you. I even sent a copy of the first one to my principal with this in the text:

This is the reason I do what I do...including staying late and spending evenings and weekends getting "stuff" ready! :D Please check out the attached photo and smile! I really needed this right about now, too! ;)

She replied that she loves second grade, too! ;)

Here's a smile for you today! I hope your children love whatever grade you teach. Isn't that why we do this anyway? :D

"Dear Mrs. stapler, do you mind if i help you tech (teach) when i grow up and i don't have school" Do ya think having a student teacher prompted this idea?

I think the top two pictures are the work of the same student. The third one is done by my "artist." Notice the angle of the top/skirt? Someone told me a loooonnnggg time ago that I have a "high butt" whatever that means...and I often have to pull my top down at the back because it gathers around my waist when I sit. How crazy is it that that comment was the first thing I thought of when I saw the skirt picture? :D

The cake is from my teamie's birthday back in December... :D We celebrated allllll month!!

†~Melly~†

Teacher Tip Linky Party

    Michelle @ Teach123 is having a Teacher Tip Linky Party! She is going to pin ideas on Pinterest. Head on over and help out for the newbies... :D



Whew! We have a teacher work day tomorrow and I have a mega-list...I think it's a mile long! Going to bed early tonight to try and get there at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning and knock out some big projects. Prayers, please!  :D

†~Melly~†

Kinder-2nd Linky Party

Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle is having a linky party!

Come check it out and join the fun! I've already found some new blogs to follow... :D

†~Melly~†

Main Idea again...

We didn't get started today, but we will also make an umbrella, label it Main Idea, and add raindrops hanging from the umbrella labeled supporting details. The children write the main idea from a book or something they've written on the back of the Main Idea Umbrella and write a word or phrase on the raindrop for the supporting detail. Follow-up is to write a paragraph using the ideas on their umbrella for posting in the hall. It was funny last year how my students took it a step further...some of them made sunshines to go under their  umbrella and told how they'd need shade at the beach. Some put snowflakes under their umbrella and told about making snowmen, playing in the snow, etc. They probably won't do that this year since we didn't get any snow...(sigh). I just hope all this scaffolding rocks the third grade language teachers' world next year! ;)

†~Melly~†

Team SCOOT "Main Idea" made it a Marvelous Monday!

Today was marveloso, baby! I took in enough "stuff" to fix up a dozen bags for "Main Idea" work. My students were given Team SCOOT sheets  half-sheets, run front to back (see Team SCOOT post). I used the copier to put the image on one sheet twice, then copied front to back and cut in half. Voila! Two copies for each of my students and my teamie's!

Brown bags were put at each pod of four desks. The children's job as a team was to use whatever was in the bag to agree on a "main theme." I appointed one leader per group to keep my sweet seconds from "grabbing" the bags and destroying something because there were breakable items. I had two incomplete bags (I forgot to get a few items on my mad dash this morning), which I used to explain how to play. The children practiced Team SCOOT once before I put the bags at the pods so they would know what to do. :) 

They "scooted" around the room twice before we went over what was in each bag as a class. They loved this! I told them that this is like finding the main idea in a paragraph...you're looking for "stuff" called "supporting details" to point to what the whole paragraph is talking about or telling. We talked about determining the importance of what we read by thinking about the explicit ideas and looking carefully for implicit ideas as well.

The next step is to put 4 copies of the same paragraph for "Main Idea Team SCOOT" and let them work as a team together again to figure out what the main idea is based on supporting details.

I think I'll have them take turns being the secretary for the group and writing the main idea and at least 3 supporting details at each station. This was such a fun and exciting way for them to learn something that is sometimes difficult for seconds.

I had 12 brown bags in all. I remembered to get out my camera after the first round of SCOOT. I'll try to remember to get pix of the other bags tomorrow.

I am thrilled with the awesome learning going on today...

check out the pix!

Dog-bone, tug toy, water bowl

 Cleaning!-old towel, kid-friendly cleaning solution, duster

Painting!-purple tape, paint stick for stirring, paintbrush, pint of yellow paint (for my rocking chair)...

Cookies!-flour, cookie cutters, salt

Now a question...does anyone else have a time getting your students to keep their desks neat? Check out this picture I took Friday afternoon and put on the Promethean board so they could see exactly what pleases the Desk Fairy! ;D You should see some of their desks today, though! Ouch! :*(

Can it get any plainer than this?!? :D

More "Main Idea" tomorrow...a "craftivity" to practice main idea and supporting details...stay tuned!

Blessings & peace,

    †~Melly~†

Awwww...I'm soooo excited!

Today really was a "Wonderful Wednesday!" Our princiPAL says have a "Wonderful Wednesday!" at the end of announcments most Wednesdays. First, my student teacher was there and taught a lesson for her instructor, whose  Grandmother was my babysitter when I was two and three years old....  Score! X2! 1~I get to clear out some of my clutter while observing my student teacher! 2~she does such an absolutely fabulous job that my students stay with this most of the day continuing the lesson (yes, we have some Math to catch up tomorrow...but it was well worth it!). Wanda said my student teacher is a natural! She truly is a natural! Maybe it's in her blood because her mom is also a teacher. ;)

We did the bubble gum fun activities found at the teacher wife and Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten with a little added to make them tough enough for second grade. We used the activity made by Lindsey, but ramped it up by using her form as a graphic organizer for our phrases and writing complete sentences to create a paragraph on regular paper. The students quickly wrote their "sloppy copies" and, using the Six Traits of Writing, revised and edited for a "published copy." These will be posted under our craftivity along with 2 bar graphs created by students to review bar graphing because my seconds need extra review of the key. They can use a key of 1 for one bar graph, but must use a different number for the key on the second graph. I have found that when they struggle with something they learn better when they are required to "create" something with that concept included. :D

So, busy day leads to chiropractor visit...I <3 Dr. Kathy! She keeps me "in line!" ;) Relaxing and chillin' to the radio on the way home...and surprise! I've been awarded not one, but two blog awards! Thanks to Mrs. Au @ 2nd Grade Rocks!

 

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you.  Thanks, Mrs. Au!
2. Pass the award on to 5 other Lovely bloggers.
3. Follow the person who sent it to you. (Yep, I've been following for quite a while!:)

Here are my five!

1. Cynthia @ 2nd Grade Pad
2. Jamie @ 2nd Grade Stuff
3. Britt @ A Day in the Life of a Classroom Teacher
4. Miss Kranz @ A Day in the Life of Miss Kranz
5. Anna @ a day in the life...

and here are my Top 10! Click here to get the button!

1. Cynthia @ 2nd Grade Pad
2. Jamie @ 2nd Grade Stuff
3. Britt @ A Day in the Life of a Classroom Teacher
4. Miss Kranz @ A Day in the Life of Miss Kranz
5. Anna @ a day in the life...
6. the Van Sickle ladies @ A Teacher at Heart
7. Ms. H. @ A Teacher's Journey in Second Grade
8. Linda @ A Teacher's Touch
9. Pat @ A Time to Share and Create
10. Mrs. Harris @ Adventures of Room 129 (love the music!)


Now I'm done for the night...going to relax in the bath and read! Doesn't that sound yummy? Especially with the hand candy given to me by one of my besties! WOW! What a wonderful Wednesday!

Author's PIE, Team SCOOT

We made an author's pie last year to introduce the author's purpose for writing... to persuade, to inform, or to entertain. We hung our pies in the hallway, but used them as a springboard for discussion when we discussed what we were reading and/or writing. I just felt like something was missing with that. So... after seeing Team SCOOT (who did this, by the way?) I thought,  "WOW!" We are going to make our same PIE. Instead of hanging them in the hall, we are going to use them! We will have a discussion of Author's PIE, then students will use the pies they've made to play Team SCOOT. One book will be placed at each group of seats and the students will scoot around to each pod and decide as a group what the author's purpose was in writing the book there. I will probably run the Team SCOOT sheet front to back and have the students go around twice before we discuss their answers. I'll get pictures as soon as we play and add them to this post. I just wanted to share my Team SCOOT page and the idea for my Georgia buddies who teach Author's purpose. :) Click here for Team SCOOT .



"The Best Endings" & Dr. Seuss

Wow! I've been invited to The Best Endings and written my first post about Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Check it out by clicking on The Best Endings. Thanks, Erika! As much as I love to read, I don't think I read as much as I'd like during the school year. Maybe this will help me keep tabs on how much I actually do read and hopefully, I'll see I do read more than I realize.



I did just finish a youth fiction book called Jericho Walls. It's an awesome read for Black History month. The main character is the daughter of a preacher who sets the deacons straight in a southern town in the 1950s...you'll love it!



On to Dr. Seuss...we had a blast! To start our day, my favorite Wildcat ~other than my hubby who was also a Wildcat!~ came from our high school to read Thidwick to my students.  I made a packet of comprehension activities for my students which also included a bit of math for fun. These weren't finished Friday (did I really think they would be?! DUH!), so we'll continue (and maybe finish) tomorrow. We had Truffula tree snacks (pretzels with cotton candy) and I actually bought enough to share with three other classes on my team. Thankfully, one teamie had made blue jello (One Fish, Two Fish...) for her class so we had just enough left over for the other three classes to have a Dr. Seuss snack as well. :) We read The Lorax in preparation for the movie (of course!) as well as several other Dr. S. books.


To top it all, one of my students' birthday was Friday. She was born on Dr. Seuss's 100th birthday. She was also born on her mom's 20th birthday, which means her mom was born on his 80th birthday. WOW! To be born on Dr. Seuss's birthday and then have your child on his 100th birthday...how COOL is that? Her mom brought in cupcakes, juice boxes, and goody bags (nice ones, too!) for all! The children loved this.


To finish the day, I showed The Lorax original cartoon movie on the Promethean board using MediaCast. Anyone else have MediaCast at your school? You can show lots using it. It's amazing to me the part technology plays in education today! I took some pictures, but will add them tomorrow as I intend to take more of my students working with their partners completing all their "Seussy" activities! Happy Sunday evening to you all!

Thrilling Thursday!

More wow today! My sweeties are reading Amelia Bedelia books voraciously! They love, love, love finding the multiple meaning words and get such a kick out of the way Amelia Bedelia gets everything backwards and screwy! I can't believe I've waited this long to get out the Amelia Bedelia books! I'll do them in August and September next year this fall! What kind of multiple meaning word awesomeness will we have in our classrooms by starting that early?!? :D

The children were still so thrilled about the Pigeon that they wanted to write their own pigeon stories! We also watched this pigeon video~I previewed last night~made by a first grade class.

 Sooo much cuteness! Some students chose to try to persuade me to let the pigeon be principal while others said NO WAY! Others came up with their own Don't Let the Pigeon stories. I am beyond thrilled that the pigeon stories have kicked off our persuasive writing with such a bang!

I took the PSA (Problem/Solve/Answer) idea and made smaller versions. Instead of a file folder, I used an 8 x 12 sheet of construction paper, shrunk the info so it would be 1/2 sheet of copy paper for the outside and 1/2 sheet for the inside, and made a couple of examples for the children. They love working with a buddy to solve story problems using their PSA foldable. I am ecstatic that they are working so well together...especially since I now have 23 students! YIKES!

Let's face reality here...the economy dictates that we do what we must, but the optimum situation for 7-8 year olds is definitely 18 or fewer...16 would be even better. It hurts, too, that we have some schools in our county with only 18 in their classes. We, however, can't get another teacher to lower our numbers! Say what?!?!? So, I've been hitting the ground running every single morning, trying to come up with loads of exciting ways to learn (after the 30 minutes of Read to Self time each morning). I remind my students we're building stamina for third grade. They're definitely going to need it!!

I am very thankful to have my student teacher with me on Mondays and Wednesdays. She is with me through April 18! She is required to teach 8 lessons (3 with her instructor observing, the other 5 just to get experience). She has already done such an awesome job! Her presence is a true blessing!

I am also praising GOD for every single one of my bloggy friends. Each an every one of you gives me something...new ideas, understanding that there are others in the trenches with me, laughs to lighten the load, and just plain ol' good feelings when I read about your days. I don't always post a comment, but believe me when I say you all ROCK! I couldn't do it without the inspiration and oomph I get from reading, blog-stalking, borrowing, and chuckling. Thanks bunches!

Don't Let the Pigeon...

My marvelous student teacher taught a lesson today on persuasive writing. She read Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late between exploratory classes and lunch. When writing time rolled around, she told the children that we all have opinions and want to share them. She reminded them of the Pigeon story and how much they enjoyed it. Then she played this:

After watching the video clip twice, the children wrote their persuasive paragraph about whether they'd let the pigeon drive the bus trying to convince the reader to do the same. :) This was precious and hilarious at the same time. The children were sooooo excited and all of them except one finished. Even my struggling writers wrote! The one who did not finish has troubles. :( What a fantastic way to introduce persuasive writing! Try it! :)

Craaaazzzzzzzyyyy Day!

Wow! What a crazy day! We worked on Cause & Effect by reading Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia! and Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia! Thanks for sharing, Amy @ Step into 2nd Grade. Your post on Amelia Bedelia and the Baby was awesome! Did you share the cause and effect activities with the two stories above? I can't find where I found them... (sigh). It's been a  looonnnng day with Cause & Effect, PSA making, and Contraction Surgery! My children could NOT stop the talking today, but I know they were learning. They just chattered away about cause & effect, got even louder working on the story problems together, and couldn't even be STILL when they got their surgeon's masks on to perform Contraction Surgery.  We made the masks using paper and yarn (I forgot all about going to find some masks, so I improvised). I found some small bandaids in a teamie's room (she had a sub, but we often go in each other's closets) and also found some bandaid stickers that made for really cute contractions. I just hope I can find some more of those bandaid stickers! :) They worked rather well. I did get some pix...I'll paste some tomorrow...too tired tonight. Sweet dreams everyone. I'll update this post tomorrow with pix and more info... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. :D

Kids Say the Darndest Things Linky Party

Jeannie at

is having a linky party! Join the fun...and please don't be offended by my student's comment. He was only a Kindergartener...